


Just Look What the Tide Dragged In

by pterawaters



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Triad Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 17:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12347616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: After a bad storm sinks their vessel, Steve and Freddie get separated from the rest of their crew. Adrift at sea and alone, Steve is sure there’s no way they’ll be found in time. Then a stranger—no boat in sight—finds them and tows them to safety. The stranger disappears as suddenly as he appeared, leaving Steve and Freddie wondering what the hell just happened.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for [Triad Verse Big Bang 2017](https://triadversebang.tumblr.com/). Big thanks to osointricate and greenglowsgold for beta reading! Also, thanks to tresa_cho for help with plotting and world building!
> 
> Art was done by the magnificent Narya! You can view her art masterpost [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12335271)! Please head on over and give her kudos and comments on her fantastic work.

Steve's eyes feel sandy as he tries to open them, squinting at the glare of the sun off the water. He groans and asks, "How long was I out?" The skin on his face and hands is tight and hot, a painful shiver running through him when he brushes the back of his hand against the side of the raft. If not for the raft's cover, he's sure he'd be burnt to a crisp by now. 

There's no answer from the other side of the boat, and Steve's eyes fly open despite the pain. Freddie's burnt too, and the bandage around his calf bloody, but not soaked. Steve can't tell if Freddie's still breathing until he gets closer. It's a difficult and painful shuffle, getting close enough to see Freddie's ribs expand and his pulse jump at the base of his throat. 

There's something digging into Steve's leg, and when he looks down, he notices his sidearm, come loose from its place in the holster around his thigh. Picking it up, Steve looks at the gun for a moment. With the two of them needing fresh water to survive the heat of sun beating down on the roof of the raft all day, they're going to run out soon. Maybe a day, at most. If Steve no longer needed the water, Freddie would have enough for two days. It could buy Freddie enough time for the Navy to find him. Of course, Freddie could die of the wound on his leg before that happened, so it would be a risky move. 

Before Steve gets too far down that train of thought, a splashing sound, like something breaking the surface of the water, draws his attention. He scans the water out the windows of the cover, looking for the source of the sound. If he's lucky, it's just a curious dolphin. If he's unlucky, it's a shark that's somehow caught the scent of blood coming from Freddie's wound. 

"Ahoy, the boat!" calls a man's voice, and it sounds _American_. East Coast, even. 

What's an East Coast voice doing in the middle of the Pacific? Steve scans the horizon in all directions, and there's no other vessel. 

"Great, now I'm hallucinating," he says out loud. 

The voice calls back, "No, down here, buddy! In the water!"

Looking over the side of the raft, through the boarding door, Steve finally sees the speaker. He's treading water ten feet away from Steve, his shoulders and arms bare. Sure, the Pacific is warmer at this latitude than at any other, but it's still cold enough that swimming in it without a wetsuit is kind of a bad idea. "What are you doing?" Steve demands, scrambling to lean over the side of the raft and offer his hand to the guy. "Where did you come from? How long have you been in the water?"

The man licks his lips, looking away from Steve for a second before he says, "Don't worry about it."

Steve cries, "Don't _worry_ about it?" Beside him, Freddie stirs. "You're treading water in the middle of the ocean! Come on, get in!" Steve offers his hand again. 

This time the man actually rolls his eyes. "Here," he says, pulling a mesh bag up from out of the water and tossing it into the raft. "You look like you need those. You got a tow-rope?"

"A-a what?" Steve asks, flummoxed as he reaches for the bag. He can see through the mesh a couple of bottles of water and three oranges. "What?"

"A tow-rope," the man repeats. "Come on. There's a ship five miles that way," he points east. "I can get you close enough to get some help."

"You what? Who are you?" Steve demands, but the man sinks under the surface of the water without answering. 

His voice a slurring murmur, Freddie asks, "Wha'ss hap'ning?"

Shaking his head, Steve reaches over and squeezes Freddie's hand. "We've been out here awhile, Fred. I think I might be hallucinating. Here," he says, taking one of the water bottles out of the bag and handing it to Freddie. "Does that feel real to you?"

"Yeah," Freddie says, twisting open the top and taking a sip. "Tastes real, too."

From outside, the stranger says, "I found it, no thanks to you. Hang tight, huh?"

"Navy find us?" Freddie asks, taking another sip and then handing the bottle to Steve. 

"No," Steve says, taking a sip before he realizes maybe he shouldn't have trusted the water. "But someone did."

He decides dying of dehydration has to be worse than dying of whatever poison the stranger could have laced it with, so he takes a longer drink, savoring the cool taste of clean water. When he's done, he hands the bottle back to Freddie and starts looking out the windows again.

Eventually he sees the stranger through one of the plastic windows, cresting above the water in a strange sort of breaststroke. He's got a neon orange rope around his chest, the tail of it attached to the raft. The raft doesn't have much of a hydrodynamic shape, being meant for survival instead of travel. Steve leans out the door of the raft and feels the drag of water against them that means they're moving, and with a good amount of speed. The stranger has to have an insane amount of strength to pull this raft through the water at this speed. 

"I have to be dreaming," he says out loud, taking a slice of orange when Freddie hands it to him. 

"Want me to pinch you?" Freddie asks with his mouth full. 

Steve snorts and shakes his head. He bites into the orange slice, savoring every drop of sugar-laden juice as it hits his tongue. It's been a long few days without food, even trained as he is to endure periods of starvation. 

Of course, if the stranger is a hallucination, then so are the oranges, and it's only a matter of time before Steve dies of dehydration. Maybe it would have been better to go down with the ship. Even if she'd been done in by a typhoon, rather than an enemy torpedo or airstrips. If anyone else made it off the ship, Steve and Freddie lost them that first, horribly windy night. 

Steve thinks he must have nodded off again, because the next thing he knows, a long coil of wet rope slaps his feet. The man has both arms in the boat, muscular shoulders prominent as he holds his head above the side of the raft. 

"There you go," the man says. "That ship on the horizon is heading this way. They're bound to see you."

"Get in," Freddie says, offering his hand to the man. 

He slicks his wet hair back and shakes his head. "Nah. Not much of a Navy guy, but thanks." The man nods toward the interior of the raft. "I could use my bag back, though. Took me forever to find just the right one."

Steve grabs the bag and hands it to the stranger, asking, "How could you pull us that fast? You got some kind of dive propellor?"

The man takes the bag and turns it out, leaving the last bottle and oranges on the floor of the raft. "Yeah, you figured it out," he says, a slight sarcastic tinge to his voice. "I've got a propellor. Of course." He winks, saying, "Well, see you around never." 

In an instant, he's gone, slipping down below the edge of the raft, taking his now-empty bag with him. Steve and Freddie both scramble to the hatch, peering over the side and down into the water. There's nothing there. 

"What the fuck?" Freddie murmurs.

"Agreed," Steve replies. He sits back down in the raft, reaching for the next bottle of water. "I'm thinking we might want to leave that guy out of the official report."

Freddie licks his lips, squinting out over the water toward the ship on the horizon. "How do we explain the supplies?"

"Good point," Steve replies, sitting back and turning the ring on his right ring finger. "This raft was packed according to regulation. The fresh fruit is especially hard to explain."

With a fond smile, Freddie reaches for Steve's hands. "Quit fidgeting with it, or I'm going to start thinking you want to give it back."

"Are you kidding me?" Steve scoffs, folding his hands into Freddie's and noting his ring on Freddie's hand in return. "I'm never giving this ring back. If you want it back, you're gonna have to take it off my dead body."

With a shake of his head, Freddie laughs. He looks down at their entwined hands for a moment before saying, "I think the only thing for it is to tell the truth, Steve. Let the brass make of it what they will."

"Probably think we were hallucinating," Steve says. "Hell, that's still my best theory for the whole thing."

"Yeah. I'm sure that's what's going to happen." He gives Steve's hand one last squeeze before letting go and crawling toward the supply bag on the other side of the raft. 

"What are you looking for?" Steve asks. 

Freddie replies, "A flare," just before holding one up in triumph. "Wouldn't want to be this close to being rescued and have them pass us by."

"Good thinking," Steve says, grabbing Freddie by the shirt collar and pulling him into a quick kiss. "Love you."

"Love you too, darlin'," Freddie says with a rakish grin. He leans out the hatch, watching the ship draw closer. "What's the first thing you want to do when we get home?"

Steve leans out the hatch as well, putting himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Freddie. "First thing? Call our daughter. Then sleep in our bed."

"Hell yeah!" 

The ship gets closer, maybe half a mile off and gaining. Steve can practically smell their little house at Coronado. 

He asks Freddie, "What about you? After we're done calling and sleeping, what do you want to do?"

"Get some Ben, Lane, and Jerry's," Freddie replies, readying the flare. "Get a cheesesteak from Mama's. And then take full advantage of the privacy our house affords." With a goofy smile, Freddie sets off the flare.

It burns bright and flies high, and a minute later, the sound of the klaxon spreads out over the water. The ship turns slowly toward them, and Steve knows they're going to be okay.

He's just not certain about _why_ they're going to be okay. Or just how their rescue happened.

~*~

_Look, Monkey_ , Danny says to his daughter using sign language as they watch the big Navy boat pick up the men from the life raft. _They're being rescued. Can we_ please _get going now?_ He emphasizes the "please" with a plaintive vocal tone.

_Thank you, Daddy,_ Grace replies, a bright smile on her face as her hands convey her meaning. _We couldn't just leave them there!_

Oh, they could have. They probably should have. Scratch that, they definitely should have. 

But, Danny is physically incapable of saying no to his daughter, especially when she gives him that wide-eyed, innocent, pleading look.

_Yeah, yeah_ , he signs, saving the put-upon sigh for when he's next above-water, as his gills aren't quite up to the task. _Come on. We've got a long swim back to the city, and a long boat ride after that to get you back to your mom. We're going to be late as it is._

Grace flippantly signs, _Whatever_ and turns toward Polivai, her tail flicking bubbles at his face. 

Bringing Grace back to her mother and pop is always difficult, especially after one of their weekends offshore. The transition back to dry land can be tough, even when you have a family who understands what it's like. Going back to a house where no one _gets_ the disconcerting lack of pressure and the confining feel of two-dimensional space has to be ten times worse. 

Danny's sure if Grace's health wasn't at risk by doing so, Rachel and Stan would keep her on dry land all the time, if just to avert the attitude she always has upon coming back. 

"The only cure is more time in the water," Danny told them after Grace got aggressive one Monday at school. "A swim every day would do it."

In a snide tone, Rachel asked, "And you'd have to be the one to take her, yes? Your job keeps you away all hours, Daniel! And Grace can ill-afford to lose out on that much time doing her schoolwork!"

Danny ignored Stan's harrumph. "I moved here all the way from Jersey so I could be with Grace. You don't think I could find an hour of my day, every day to give to her? You tell me when and I'll be there."

Rachel waved him off like he was being ridiculous, and that was that. Danny had Grace for 36 hours every weekend, and every week Grace got to practice keeping her cool after the transition back. 

Maybe the story of how they saved two Navy sailors will get her through it this week. 

Forty-five minutes after leaving the site of said rescue, Polivai comes into sight, the glittering buoy line anchored right in the middle of town. Danny waves to his neighbors as they pass, receiving polite waves in return. Danny is new to the city, just like he's new to Hawaii, and still making friends. 

His next-door neighbor, Tammy, stops Danny, and he waves for Grace to go ahead into the house. Hopefully she'll remember to start packing her things right away. Their boat back to Oahu leaves in less than half an hour. 

_Garson saw a Tiger Shark just south of here this morning. Watch out for the little one_ , Tammy signs, nodding toward where Grace disappeared into the dome-topped stone cabin. 

_It got through the netting?_ Danny asks, turning south and squinting through the water. He misses the colder water of the Atlantic. It was often clearer and easier to see through. 

Tammy nods, her eyes wide. _I'm sure Patrol will herd it back out. The Council will call for an inspection of the netting. Can we count on you to volunteer?_

Danny makes a noncommittal noise and waggles his hand. _Gonna be on shore. Gimme a call, and I'll see what I can do._

_Sure you don't want to join Polivai Patrol? I happen to know there's an opening._ Tammy gives Danny a smile and a wink. If she wasn't married, he'd think her flirtatious manner meant she liked him as more than a neighbor. It _could_ still mean that, but no way was Danny getting involved with a married lady.

Waving goodbye, Danny signs, _I'm good with my current job, thanks._ He escapes into the cabin, closing the gate behind him. Passing the doorway to Grace's dome, Danny heads up to the main living area. The main dome holds a pocket of air, refreshed continually by the city's plumbing. As he breaches the air pocket, Danny's gill slits seal shut and he starts using his lungs. 

Danny sits at the edge of the water, keeping his tail on as he reaches for his phone. He unplugs it from the charger and checks the time. Shit. The boat to Oahu is going to be by to switch out passengers in less than ten minutes. Danny shoves his phone into the waterproof lockbox along with his wallet and car keys. He shoves the lockbox into his mesh backpack and turns out the lights. 

Slipping back into the water, Danny swims over to Grace's dome, running his hand past the seashell chimes in the entrance to announce his presence. When Danny sees Grace, above the water in her dome, playing with her phone, he surfaces beside her. "Come on, Monkey. We're gonna miss the boat!"

Seemingly unconcerned by this fact, Grace asks, "Daddy? Can I get that new game system?"

"The one developed by that mer? The waterproof one?"

Grace nods. "Nani has one, and it's so cool!"

"Tell you what," he says, taking her phone out of her hands and dropping it into its waterproof bag, sealing it carefully. "We'll talk about it on the boat. Now move those fins, young lady!"

With a grin, Grace dives under the water, slipping through the smoothed-stone tunnels of the cabin, flinging open the gate when she gets to it. She uses a triumphant tone and signs, _Beat you!_ when Danny follows her out. 

With a sharp tone, he tells her, _Stick close today_ , that shark sighting still on his mind. He locks the cabin gate, making sure it's secure before hurrying to catch up with Grace. 

Polivai isn't too big—it's a lot smaller than Oceanstad, where Danny grew up off the coast of New Jersey—so it doesn't take long to get to the buoy line and follow it up to the surface. The boat is a few hundred yards off yet, and there's a good half dozen mer already waiting at the surface. Danny lets out a sigh of relief and pulls Grace close in a one-armed hug. "We made it!"

"Do I have to go back to Mom's house tonight?" Grace asks, hugging Danny back and giving him those big puppy dog eyes. 

"Yeah, Grace. You do." Danny ignores the way her expression makes him want to cave. "The judge saId I only get you on the weekend, so that's the way it's got to be."

"If we stayed in Polivai all the time, like Kaia's family, we wouldn't have to listen to the stupid no-tail judge."

Danny frowns at his daughter. "What did I tell you about that word? That's not a word that we use, okay?"

"I don't say it around _them_ ," Grace protests, crossing her arms. "They wouldn't even understand if I did."

"Your mother would understand," Danny insists, flicking his tail to move closer to Grace and putting a hand on her shoulder. "And even if they don't understand, you do. You know it's not a kind thing to say."

Finally looking ashamed, Grace looks down into the water and pouts. "I know."

"Okay." Danny sighs, rubbing Grace's back through the modified wetsuit vest she wears in Polivai. They're popular with a lot of the mer kids, and honestly, Danny appreciates the modesty it provides.

Poseidon knows the Oceanstad waters where he grew up were cold enough in the winter that only the insane mers left their heated home pools without dry suit jackets. Of course, some of them up and migrated south for the winter, but Danny's parents insisted their kids go to public school on the surface, which was cheaper than mer school, but ignorant of mer migration patterns. 

"Second of all," Danny says to Grace, "I am an officer of the law, alright? It is my job to uphold the law. Mer law _and_ human law, okay? What kind of cop would I be if I defied a judge's orders, huh?"

Grace shrugs and guesses, "A bad one?"

"That's right." Danny holds onto Grace as the transpo boat cuts its engine, gliding on momentum toward the group of mers waiting around the buoy. 

The Hawaiian-style catamaran has loading decks on either side of the engine. Danny escorts Grace to the women's side, waiting for her turn to board before he ducks under the water, surfacing on the other side. He jumps onto the men's loading deck, shifting into his land-form and padding toward the row of lockers. Shorts, shirt, boxers, boat shoes, comb, wallet, badge and ID—everything is still where Danny left it yesterday morning. He gets dressed and makes his way up to the mixed-gender part of the boat, finding Grace and making sure she's got everything in order too. 

The boat turns toward Oahu and Danny settles into one of the deck chairs. He leans his head back, closes his eyes, and tries not to think of all the ways helping a couple of Navy castaways could come back to bite him in the ass. 


	2. Chapter 2

Steve frowns at a display case full of Jello, picking up a fruit cup only to abandon it as inedible. Sure, it's been awhile since he's been home to Hawaii (he doesn't count drifting within 50 miles of the islands on a raft six months ago), but he remembers the fruit being fresher. He supposes hospital cafeterias can ruin any sort of food, even here on Oahu.

The pineapple on his Hawaiian pizza will just have to do. 

Steve approaches the register with his tray—pizza, coffee, and a limp salad—and pulls out his wallet as the cashier rings him up. He's handing her a twenty when a voice across the cafeteria catches his attention. There's a group of police officers, both uniformed and plainclothes, sitting around one of the larger tables, coffee cups all in hand and the remains of their food spread out over the table. 

One of the cops (plainclothes, including a tie of all things, his slicked-back blonde hair completing the look) looks familiar. Steve just can't quite place where he knows this guy from. Maybe he was in the Navy awhile back. Served out of Coronado at the same time Steve did. Yeah, that has to be it. 

Steve starts to head over so he can say hello, when suddenly his father and Hawaii's governor, Pat Jameson, are standing in front of him. "Steven," the governor says, holding her hand out to shake. She has two other people with her, and Steve guesses they're an aide and a bodyguard by their appearances. "Welcome back to Hawaii. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Uh, thank you," Steve replies, shifting his tray so he has a hand free to shake hers. 

"Is there any word yet on Lieutenant Hart's prognosis?" Governor Jameson steers Steve toward a corner of the cafeteria with a hand on his shoulder. "Is his condition improving at all?"

"Yeah, it is." Steve sneaks a questioning look at his father behind the governor's back. John just shakes his head and gestures for Steve to take a seat. Steve hates how automatically he follows the direction. Since Jameson seems to be waiting for more of an answer, Steve says, "Freddie is out of the woods, so to speak. The bullet did a lot of damage to his liver, and the blood loss damaged some of his other organs. The doctors aren't quite sure if he'll ever fully recover, or if he'll ever be able to serve again."

"What a shame," Jameson says, shaking her head. "Will you be staying here on the island while he recuperates?" Her eyes glance at the ring on Steve's right hand. Steve is now sure that Jameson is aware Freddie's wearing a matching ring on his. 

Wondering what she's getting at and annoyed that John isn't giving him any hints, Steve says, "The Navy has given me two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Jameson cries. "Lieutenant Hart won't even be out of the hospital in two weeks!"

"The Navy needs m–"

"What if I told you," Jameson says, cutting Steve off, "that Hawaii needs you more?"

"What are you talking about?" Steve asks her. He turns to John and asks point-blank, "What is she talking about?"

"A job, Steve," John says, a sly smile on his face. "Pay attention."

"A job?"

Jameson nods. "I'm starting a task force to take on major crimes in our state. We're talking no red tape, immunity and means. Whatever it takes." She leans toward Steve, her brows pinched together. "And I want _you_ to run it."

"I'm not a cop," Steve tells her, reaching for his coffee and giving his father a look. All those years ago, he sent Steve to the mainland for God knows what reason. Now, what? He wants Steve to come back home? What, did he turn sixty-eight and suddenly realize he'd pushed everyone away? Steve takes a long sip of his rapidly-cooling coffee, watching John keep his inscrutable expression. 

"No, you're not," Jameson agrees. "But I've seen your record. You've spent the last six years hunting down terrorists, weapons traffickers, and drug runners. I want you to bring that expertise home, to Hawaii, and root out the criminals plaguing this island. HPD, bless them," she says, putting a hand on John's forearm, "can only do so much."

Steve sets down his coffee cup and crosses his arms. She seriously thinks he's going to leave behind being a SEAL in the best Navy in the world?

"You'd be able to stay close to your partner," Jameson adds with a slight shrug. "Maybe find a third and settle down a bit?"

Steve can't help the snort that escapes him. "Oh, I see. My father put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Hey," John says, holding his hands up in defense. "Pat came to me with this idea. Asked for suggestions. How could I not recommend my own son?"

It takes some effort not to roll his eyes. Steve clears his throat and reaches for his fork. "I'll think about it," he tells them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to eat so I can get back upstairs."

Jameson reaches toward her aide, taking a business card from her and giving it to Steve. "Call me if you have questions, or when you make a decision."

Taking the card, Steve nods. "You got it."

The governor gets up and leaves, but John stays, watching patiently as Steve starts to eat. Steve looks over toward that table of cops to see if that familiar guy is still there, but they've all cleared out while Steve was speaking with the governor. His attention is drawn back when John clears his throat. 

"You couldn't call? Tell me you were back home?"

Steve shrugs and finishes chewing. "I figured Pop would call you. He's the one who ordered Freddie to Tripler after I got him back to base." 

John chuckles. "Yeah. Joe called last night."

"See?" Steve says through a mouthful of salad. "My calling would have been redundant."

Shaking his head, John huffs. Steve almost expects John to get pissed, maybe start using his disappointed voice like when Steve was a kid and giving him attitude. Instead, John says, "I think this would be a good opportunity for you, son."

"Since when am I _allowed_ back on the island?" The question comes out along with all the resentment he's felt for the past eighteen years. 

There's a long moment of silence before John finally meets Steve's eyes. He takes a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh. "Since I realized I was wrong to send you away in the first place."

At first, Steve's too surprised by John's response to say anything but a cynical, "Uh-huh." Crossing his arms, Steve asks, "Just when did you have this grand realization?"

"Not soon enough," John says with his smile apologetic, like the one he would give Steve's mother when he came home after working late.

The problem is that Steve doesn't know what to do with this confession of his father's. It's not like it erases the eighteen years Steve spent never quite getting the reason he and Joe left the island without John, and why Mary was sent to live with John's sister, Deb. After the family broke apart, Steve hated both of his fathers for a good couple of years. Still, Joe was the one he saw most days, Joe's career path inexplicably shadowing Steve's rise through the Navy. Forgiving Joe had been easy. 

Looking at John now, Steve still can't quite find that forgiveness. At least, not until he has some answers. "Tell me why you sent us away," he demands, looking his father square in the eyes, as unflinching as the last time he'd stared down an enemy hostile. 

It's a weird rush of power when John is the one who looks away first. He sighs, shaking his head, and then says, "After your mother died, I thought you were in danger."

Steve furrows his brow and leans over the table, closer to John. "Mom died in a car accident. Why would we be in danger? Why would Pop agree with you?" Steve gives a huff of years-old frustration. "He never would talk about it."

John's smile is melancholy, like it had been when he'd waved goodbye to Steve and Joe at the airport all those years ago. Steve hates how different – _haggard_ – John looks now, compared to back then. "If I tell you, you're only going to want to stay. To take this job the governor is offering you."

"You seem awfully sure of that," Steve replies, but he can't help it. He's desperately curious. 

"I know you, son," John says, like the extent of their relationship for the better part of two decades has been greater than just phone calls at Christmas and birthdays. "Are you sure you want to learn about this after all these years?"

Steve clenches his jaw, rubs his thumb against the ring on his finger, and nods. "Tell me."

~*~

Freddie thinks that for all his years training first to be a basketball player, and then to be a Navy SEAL, opening a fucking door while balancing on crutches shouldn't be this hard.

Running up from the other side of the glass door, one of Steve's co-workers opens the door for him. "Hey, let me get that for you," she says, her wide smile giving Freddie the impression that she knows exactly who he is. 

"You must be Kono," Freddie says with a nod of thanks for the door. "Steve says you're the best rookie he's ever worked with."

Kono rolls her eyes, letting go of the door and keeping Freddie's slow pace. "I'm the only rookie he's ever worked with."

Freddie chuckles. "Even still."

He looks around, impressed by the quality of the offices and the equipment. Was that whole table a computer? "We never had anything this nice in the Navy!"

As he gets closer to the computer table, Freddie sees the displays hanging on the glass walls around the table. More specifically, he sees crime scene photos of a badly-burned body. "Eugh! Who's the crispy critter?"

A dark look passes over Kono's face as she answers. "A police officer. Someone shot him and put him in an imu."

Freddie furrows his brow. "What the hell did the emu do to deserve _that_? Poor bird. Did it burn with the guy?"

Kono laughs suddenly. "No, dude! An _imu_. I-M-U. It's an underground oven."

Used to speaking too soon and being wrong (especially with Steve around, the know-it-all), Freddie nods amiably. "Okay. So that's how he got burned, huh?"

"That's the prevailing theory. Steve and Chin went to go talk to his HPD captain." She points toward one of the glass-lined offices. "Boss-man's in that one. His couch is pretty comfy, if you want to wait."

Freddie eyes the couch and grimaces. "I've had too many couch-sitting hours over the last few months. I'd rather stand here and talk to you."

Kono rolls her eyes again, but she's smiling and there's a blush on her cheeks. Freddie knows Steve isn't as averse to dating officers who rank below him as he probably should be, but the rookie in his brand new task force might be a hard sell. Still, it's fun to flirt and fraternization rules have never stopped Freddie from doing so. Why should they now?

"Well," Kono says, "unless you want to help me sort out the victim's financials, I can't really talk about anything else right now."

Freddie gives Kono another smile. "Hey! Grunt work is what I'm good at!"

"Seriously?"

Looking down at the cast on his leg, Freddie asks, "What the hell else am I gonna do?"

"Fair enough." Kono slides a stool in Freddie's direction, then pulls up a file on the big monitors. "Here's the past two year's worth of bank statements. Make a first pass and take note of anything unusual, yeah?"

"Got it," Freddie says, hating how grateful he feels for the stool. The last thing he wants to do is sit again, but man can only stand on one leg and two crutches for so long before everything gives out. If that happened and he fell, Freddie thinks Steve might end up chaining him to the couch in their apartment. Of the two options, he'll definitely take this one. 

~*~

"Do you know if Meka had any enemies?" Steve asks Chin as they wait for the HPD Captain Tanaka in his office. "Any rumors you might have heard about?"

Chin shakes his head. "Only ever heard he was a nice guy. Boring, almost."

"Great," Steve says, his tone short. The imperfectly folded American flag on the shelf behind Tanaka's distracts him so badly, he barely notices when the Captain enters the room. He tries not to look like he's scrambling as he stands and puts himself into position to shake Tanaka's hand just as Chin is done doing so. "Thank you for meeting with us, Captain."

"Eh," Tanaka says with a heavy sigh as he sits behind the desk. "One of our own has been killed. It's the least I could do." He shakes his head. "Still, it doesn't feel right, my team not being allowed to investigate the death."

"I assure you, we'll do everything we can to find Detective Hanamoa's killer," Steve tells him. 

Before Tanaka can respond, someone swings open the closed office door, barreling in. He's blonde, and broad-shouldered, and his personality takes up so much of the room that Steve's surprised to notice the man's waist falls only a few inches above the top of Tanaka's desk, which hits mid-thigh on Steve. "Captain, while I am well aware of this department's stance on capital punishment, I _swear_ , I'm gonna find the goons that did this to my partner, and I'm gonna kill them!"

Tanaka barely even blinks. "Commander McGarrett, Detective Kelly, this is Detective Danny Williams. Hanamoa's partner."

Williams turns toward them, as if he didn't notice them when he first came into the room. His eyes dart over Steve, then Chin, and then widen as he looks back at Steve for the briefest of moments before looking away. It's almost as if Williams _recognizes_ Steve.

And suddenly, Steve pictures Williams's carefully-styled pompadour slicked down with water. He pictures those shoulders bare, instead of covered with a dress shirt (and who wears a tie in Hawaii, anyway?) He remembers how sweet that orange had tasted, and the cool, clean water trickling down his salt-raw throat. This was the man who saved Steve and Freddie when they were lost at sea.

Williams gives Steve a slight shake of his head—an order not to mention what happened out at sea. Or maybe a plea? Steve doesn't get a chance to figure it out before Chin asks, "Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm your partner? Did he have any enemies?"

Steve doesn't miss the way Williams's eyes dart halfway toward Captain Tanaka before he controls them, meeting Chin's eyes instead. "We've put away more than a few murderers this past year. Most wouldn't have the friends capable of doing something…" Williams looks away, clenching his jaw, his eyes shiny. "Something like _this_."

Compartmentalizing away the question of what the hell happened out on the ocean, Steve sets his mind back on the case. "But you _can_ think of someone who could arrange it?"

Williams meets Steve's eyes for a long second—a second that makes Steve's stomach flutter—and says with a sharp nod, "Yeah. I could think of a few."

Impulsively, Steve stands up and says, "Come with us."

"Come with you?" Williams asks, incredulously, giving Steve a pointed look. "Is that an _order_?"

Steve huffs. Things were easier in the Navy, where everyone knew and respected the chain of command. Now that he's been in the civilian world for the past few months, Steve finds his social skills to be frustratingly lacking. He has to use tact to get them to do what he wants.

"Look," Steve says to Williams, “we need your help to find out who murdered your partner. You obviously want to be involved in catching them. I'm giving you that opportunity."

Williams's eyes dart toward his Captain for a contemplative second, then land back on Steve. "How involved are we talking here?"

Steve's first instinct is to recruit Williams to his task force, then and there, if only to keep him around long enough for Steve to figure out how Williams managed to do whatever he did out there on the open ocean. However, the high-eyebrow look Chin is giving Steve makes him reconsider such a drastic approach. He hedges his bets. "Let's see how it goes."

With a sigh, Williams raises an eyebrow at Captain Tanaka. The captain rolls his eyes, but nods. "Go on. I don't want to know anything. I don't want to hear about anything. I'm washing my hands of this."

"Thanks for your support," Williams says sarcastically. Steve has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Luckily, it's a skill he perfected in the Navy, used to Freddie's under-his-breath comments.

Steve ushers Williams from the room, making sure to thank Captain Tanaka over his shoulder. "C'mon, Williams. Let's go."

Williams shrugs off Steve's hand from his shoulder, saying, "I could do without the manhandling."

"You got it," Steve replies, letting go and using his longer legs to reach the precinct elevator first. 

"And it's Danny," he says, crossing his arms over his chest, eyes tracking Chin as he comes around from behind him. "You can call me Danny."

This feels like some sort of victory, so Steve grins. As the elevator opens behind him, Steve tells Danny, "We're gonna get along great."

~*~

The entire time Danny is _held hostage_ by Steve McGarrett and his Five-0 task force while they go through every case Meka ever worked, a litany of, "Shit, shit, shit," runs through the back of his mind. Of course the two Naval officers he saved fifty miles off the coast of Oahu would end up running the island's new task force six months later. The leader, Steve McGarrett, is insufferable in that way that makes Danny's blood run hot and his lungs feel like they're drowning on air. The one on crutches, Freddie Hart, doesn't seem to have recognized Danny, or at least if he has, he's got a better poker face than McGarrett. Steve keeps sending Danny these glances that the rest of the task force have definitely noticed, and have definitely gotten the wrong idea about. 

Danny is so stressed and nervous about being found out that it takes him half a day to realize that Steve and Freddie are a primer couple and that Freddie doesn't actually work here. "So...what is he doing here then?" Danny asks Kono in a quiet murmur after she informs him of the aforementioned fact.

"Helping," Kono replies with a dry shrug of her shoulders. She leans a little closer to Danny and murmurs, "I'm pretty sure the only people he knows on the island are in this room. Can't fault the guy for needing a little human contact after two months on sick leave."

Oh, great. Now Danny is feeling sympathy for one of the guys who could ruin his life by saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. It's just…

Danny sighs. "I moved here a year ago, I've only made one friend since, and someone killed him." Danny gestures at the list of suspects the others are working on.

Kono pats Danny's shoulder a little awkwardly and says, "We'll find out who did this."

Steve comes back into the room, lowering his phone from his ear and turning it off. "I've got a lead."

There's something off about Steve's posture. He's holding something back. "Where, exactly, does this lead come from, McGarrett?"

Shrugging, Steve shakes his head, and then admits, "My dad."

Kono sounds as far from Danny's current state of astonishment as possible when she says, "Oh, good! What did he say?"

"He's actually been working with Meka, on…" Steve looks at Danny warily, like he's not sure he should finish his sentence. Finally, he says, "On a project."

How illuminating.

"What project?" Danny asks. "Meka never told me about any project. And who is your dad, anyway, that he would know Meka?"

"John retired from HPD three years ago," Chin says. "He knows just about every cop on this island."

"How convenient." Danny can't help but sigh. He asks Steve,"Did this project of your dad's get my partner killed?"

Meeting Danny's eyes for a long moment, Steve says, "It's very likely, given the way his body was staged."

Danny winces. He hasn't been able to look at the crime scene photos yet, but the description he got from Kono is more than enough to turn his stomach. "The badge in his mouth? Someone's always mad at the cops, McGarrett."

"Meka was running down a group of corrupt officers," Steve says, the words forceful, like he's using them to shut Danny up.

Point for McGarrett, because it works. Danny stands there, gaping and at a loss for words. 

"Crossed the blue line," Kono says softly, her hand dropping down to the badge at her waist. 

Chin makes a thoughtful, somber noise. "A dirty cop might feel betrayed, being investigated by one of his own."

God, Danny feels sick. He lets out a painful chuckle and shakes his head. "Everyone hates IA!"

"Enough to kill?" Freddie asks. "For a cop who's already in way too deep," Chin says, "it's not unheard of."

Steve clears his throat, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "My dad has actually been investigating these dirty cops for a long time. Every time he gets close, something shifts and he can't quite get enough proof."

"Well, we're going to change that," Danny says. "It's what Meka would have wanted."

Steve gives Danny a decisive nod. The subsequent jarring feeling when Danny remembers that Steve is privy to even a small piece of Danny's most precious secret takes his breath away. He digs his nails into his palms and tries not to let his face show the emotion. 

Meka is dead, possibly killed by his own colleague. Dealing with all of those emotions is enough for one day.

~*~

"Yeah, no, Monkey," Danny says into his phone, turning away from the gate to Halawa Correctional Center, where Steve and Freddie are waiting for him. Danny says he has this theory about the man charged in one of his and Meka's homicide cases. 

While he's finally out of his cast as of yesterday, Freddie wishes his leg was strong enough that he didn't have to still use a cane. It looks dumb, and the prison guards are probably going to have to take it from him as a possible weapon.

The only prison Freddie had ever been to before this was the Enterprise's brig when his friend Harris was caught smuggling raspberry schnapps into the barracks. Smiling at the memory, Freddie turns to remind Steve of the incident. 

Only Freddie finds he can't say a word when Steve is watching Danny with that look on his face. Steve almost looks like the part of his brain that keeps his jaw up has been removed. His eyes are soft, but they crinkle at the edges when Danny laughs at something said over the phone.

Oh.

Oh, Freddie recognizes that look. It's the one he catches on Steve's face when they've got Lucy for the week. More specifically, it's the one Freddie sees when he's playing with Lucy and looks up to see Steve watching from the doorway.

Steve likes seeing Danny be a dad.

Steve _likes_ Danny.

Now, Freddie is a modern man. He believes people should be able to structure their families however they like. And it's not like he and Steve conform to the traditional two-male-relationship dynamic. 

But still. He always expected he and Steve would complete their relationship with a woman. There was Cath. There was Kelly. Hell, there was even Jennifer. Sure, none of them had been the right one, but they'd all been of a type: 

Female.

Freddie vows to keep an eye on the situation. After all, Danny's only working with them for this one case. Once they solve it, Danny will go on his merry way, and Steve will move on to the next pretty face that catches his attention. Hell, maybe Freddie should move things along in that department. The cane and the limp have got to be a good draw with sympathetic ladies. Find one, bring her around to meet Steve, it's a start.

Shuffling closer to Steve, Freddie clears his throat loudly, making Steve jump. "What's the game plan, Smooth Dog?"

That gets a chuckle out of Steve. He gently bumps his shoulder against Freddie's. "Put the screws to this guy. See if we can get him to give up a name or two."

"As much as I love a good interrogation," Freddie says, "what makes you think you've got any leverage? He gives up any dirty cops, there's sure to be a dozen guys in here willing to be hired for the revenge hit."

"If he cooperates, we can move him off the island. Whoever's got this cop on the payroll will have a much more difficult time getting to him on the mainland."

Freddie shrugs. "You've had worse plans."

With a scoff, Steve insists, "My plans are always great."

Okay, Freddie can't let that slide. "Berlin?"

Steve coughs and looks away, scratching behind his ear. "Fred. We agreed–"

Freddie laughs, throwing his arm over Steve's shoulders and pulling him close for a quick kiss on the jaw. "Relax, darlin'. Being human sometimes, like the rest of us? Not that bad."

Steve rolls his eyes, but there's a little smile on his lips and he squeezes Freddie's hip as he pulls away; putting a more professional distance between them.

~*~

"Jesus!" Danny cries, bracing himself against the ceiling of his own damn vehicle as Steve steers it around a corner going at least twice as would be advisable under normal circumstances. "Watch the damn road!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Steve cries in response, and the way the engine roars and the tires stutter, Steve definitely has the gas pedal all the way on the floor.

Pressed between Danny's right side and the window, Freddie says, "This is nothing compared to the way he pilots helicopters."

Danny curses again and says, "Remind me never to fly in a helicopter with either of you."

"Kaleo's gonna get away if you two don't stop yammering while I'm trying to drive!" Steve shouts, taking a corner so quickly the camaro's tires squeal.

This is insane. Danny considers yelling at Steve some more for driving his car – the only thing of his on this godforsaken island that he owns truly just for himself – but before he can, there's a loud crash up ahead. 

Kaleo's undercover Charger broadsides a van before skidding away, leaving the van teetering on the edge of the dock. There's a thin wire fence around the dock, and for a brief fraction of a second, Danny actually starts to think the van might be safe on solid ground.

And then it tips into the water. 

"Let me out," Danny cries, fumbling with his middle seat safety belt. "Let me out!"

Danny's about to climb over Freddie before Steve can do something stupid, like step on the gas. But, Freddie's got his belt off too, and he's out the door leaving Danny to scramble out behind him. 

Danny barely gets the passenger door closed before Steve takes off after Kaleo, so Danny doesn't waste time heading for the water. 

He knows intimately which pieces of his gear get messed up in the ocean water, so he unhooks his gun from his belt and drops it into a pile with his phone and shoes before diving off the end of the dock. The van is sinking slowly, losing air bubbles slowly until the driver manages to open the door, letting out a cloud of blinding bubbles.

Danny feels Freddie dive into the water behind him, but he's occupied with the sounds of several people struggling to escape the van. It's only after he gets to the other side of the van to start pulling open the passenger doors that he realizes he's gotten there too fast to be swimming with legs. 

_Well, there goes a perfectly good pair of pants._

At least the harbor is busy enough that the constant boat-traffic currents muddy the water and reduce visibility. 

Danny frees the woman in the front passenger seat, and pushes her toward the surface, hoping she can swim. She proves she can when she swims right back, fighting with him to get at the back seat.

And then Freddie's there, pulling the woman off of Danny so he can swim into the van and assess the backseat situation. There's two car seats and a booster. The booster is empty, small feet pushing off from the edge of the open window. Danny busies himself with the toddler in the other window seat, and the baby in the middle. 

The toddler is thrashing around, but Danny's had enough practice with Grace's various car seats that getting her unbuckled is quick work. What's more worrying is the baby, who isn't moving. Danny unbuckles him too, pulling both kids out of the van and up toward the surface. He pushes what little air is left in his lungs into the baby's nose and mouth, even as he swims upward.

The toddler goes limp too, just before Danny breaks the surface. "God damn it," Danny curses with his first breath of air, turning in place until he sees a surface-level dock ten yards away. Freddie's got the older kid out of the water, the parents pushing her up into his arms. 

Danny swims over to them – much too fast to be believable, he knows – and passes the baby up to Freddie. "You know infant CPR, right?"

"Of course I do," Freddie insists, cradling the baby in his hands before setting him down on the dock and getting to work. 

Danny turns to the parents with the toddler still in his arms, "Here, help me get her up."

Once she's up on the solid surface, Danny switches back into legs, his tattered boxers barely covering anything and his pants gone. Now is not the time for modesty, so he scrambles out of the water after them. "She's only been out a few seconds," Danny assures the parents as he gets the little girl into position and starts chest compressions on her tiny little body. 

He tries his damndest not to see Grace in the little girl, and instead focus on the task at hand. Luckily, it takes less than a dozen compressions before she's coughing out water and taking a deep breath. Sighing in relief, Danny hands the girl to her mother and shuffles over toward Freddie to see how it's going with the baby. 

Freddie's got the baby up on his arm, angled downward with chin in his palm, as he gives the child full thumps between the shoulder blades with the heel of his hand. The child is coughing and gasping as the water drains from his lungs. 

"Good job," Danny says, watching as Freddie tilts the baby up and hands him to the father. 

Giving a careful smile, Freddie says, "Thanks." As his eyes drop, he gives a start. "Jeez, Danny! What happened to your pants?"

"They got caught on something, alright?" Danny says, quickly unbuttoning his wet shirt and taking it off so he can wrap it around his waist. "This is one time I actually don't mind the god awful heat here in Hawaii."

Freddie snorts, slowly climbing to his feet. He gives Danny a weird, considering look and for a few seconds. Danny is sure that Freddie saw his tail. But then Freddie holds out his hand and says, "C'mon. Let's go secure our weapons before someone else finds them."

"Jesus, yeah. Let's do that," Danny cries, accepting Freddie's offer of help getting to his feet. As they start walking Danny notices Freddie's limp, so he gets under Freddie's arm to help hold him up. "Let's call a couple of ambulances too. That whole family needs to go to the hospital."

~*~

"Well," Steve says, leaning against the lintel of Danny's apartment door. "We did it. We found Meka's murderer."

Danny sighs, arms nominally crossed, but his right hand gesturing as he says, "Please tell me again that you read Kaleo his rights when you arrested him. I cannot _stand_ the thought of that S.O.B. getting off on a technicality."

"I promise," Steve replies, making an X over his heart with one finger. "I made sure to do everything by the book."

" _After_ the car chase that almost killed a whole family?"

With an amused chuckle, Steve nods. "Yes, after that." He shifts his weight back onto his feet. "By the way, Freddie told me you were the one who got the two littlest kids out of the car. Good job, man."

Steve takes note of the way Danny narrows his eyes at Steve for a fraction of a second before he looks away, hand on the back of his neck. "Oh, you know. All in a day's work."

Steve has been working with Danny all week, and he was starting to think there was no way Danny was the same hallucination that saved him and Freddie when they were lost on the open ocean. Now, Steve's not so sure. He doesn't want to ask Danny directly and end up looking foolish. He's really starting to like Danny. Still, he can't help but try to get some clue one way or the other. "Impressive swimming skills. You should come out swimming with me some time."

With a completely straight face, Danny says, "I don't swim."

"You don't–" Steve laughs incredulously. " _Obviously_ you can swim. I've got witnesses!"

Danny shrugs. "I swim for survival."

"And not for fun, is that it?" Steve asks with a sardonic nod and smile.

"Yeah," Danny says with a cheeky smile. "Yeah, that's exactly it."

Before Steve can press the matter further, a small voice calls from inside the apartment, "Danno?"

Steve had known that Danny has a daughter, but the image in his head does not match up with the little girl who trots into sight. She's less fair than Steve expected, and now that he's confronted with the thought, he realizes that he was picturing a pseudo-Lucy in Grace's place. 

"What's up, Monkey?" Danny asks, his smile soft as he reaches out for Grace, easily pulling her close. He uses the same unselfconscious voice Steve has heard him use while talking to Grace on the phone, and shit.

Steve realizes he'd been picturing Danny using that tone of voice with Lucy. With _his and Freddie's_ daughter. Except for Lucy's mother, Steve has never pictured any of the people he and Fred have dated since being a _parent_ to Lucy. They're not even dating Danny!

They wouldn't date Danny! Would they?

No. Definitely not. 

Besides the whole gender thing, Steve has noticed Freddie has seemed uncomfortable at the mention of Danny since yesterday's escapades. He didn't even want to come check on Danny today, even though he finally has his cast off after being cooped up in the house for months.

Steve hasn't been paying attention to Danny and Grace's conversation, but his attention is drawn back when Danny says, "Grace, this is Steve."

"Uncle Steve," Steve corrects automatically, trying not to wince visibly when he realizes that maybe he shouldn't be jumping the gun here. Sure, the "Auntie" and "Uncle" monikers don't actually denote family here on the island, but Danny's from the mainland. Maybe he hasn't noticed it, and thinks Steve is asking Danny to be a brother of sorts. Steve hasn't even gone through with asking Danny to join Five-0 yet! 

"Hi!" she says, bravely sticking her hand toward him for a handshake.

Surprised, Steve takes her hand. "You know, my partner and I have a daughter a few years younger than you. Her name is Lucy."

Steve notices Danny take a sharp breath, like he's surprised. Hadn't he known about Lucy? Freddie shows her picture to almost everyone he meets. 

"What school does she go to?" Grace asks.

"Well," Steve says, meeting Danny's eyes and noticing the rapid-fire range of expressions that flit across his face. "She lives with her mom in California, but I'm hoping to convince them to move out here very soon."

In true little kid manner, Grace asks, "Are you divorced, too? My parents are divorced." Danny crosses his arms, looking a little too invested in the answer for Steve's liking.

"No, um," Steve manages to answer. "We never got married. Lucy's mom, Kelly, wasn't too keen on the idea."

"And who could blame her, huh?" Danny asks, his tone teasing, but decidedly conversation-ending. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Grace and I have a whole day of fun planned out."

Steve can't help himself. He really can't. "Fun? What kind of fun?"

"The kind where you're not invited," Danny insists, nudging Grace through the door. "C'mon. We're gonna be late."

"How can you be late for a day of fun?" Steve asks, watching as Danny steps out of the apartment and locks the door behind him. 

Danny shakes his head. "Oh, it's possible."

Putting a hand on Danny's shoulder – and thinking he smells an awful lot like the ocean for someone who doesn't swim – Steve says in a low voice, "Wait. What do you think about joining us in Five-0 on a permanent basis? They're wasting you at HPD."

Danny blinks a few times before scratching at the scruff on his jaw. "Permanent? Working for you? I would _die_."

"You're dying at HPD. Six official reprimands in as many months?" Steve shakes his head and gives Danny what he hopes is an appropriately charming smile. 

Brows furrowed, Danny asks, "You read my f–"

"Of course I read your file! Now are you in?" Steve can't help himself. He puts both of his hands on those warm, deceptively broad shoulders. "Danno?"

Danny huffs. He rolls his eyes. Finally, he says, "Fine."

"Yes!"

"If only to save the island my daughter lives on from _you_!"

Steve doesn't mind laughing a little at his own expense. He watches Danny and Grace drive off, still impressed that Danny would uproot his whole life to move out here with his daughter. It makes Steve feel bad that he's never lived in the same place as Lucy for very long. It made sense for Kelly to keep primary custody of her, since he and Freddie were deployed so often anyway. Steve has never really thought it could be any different until Freddie almost got killed and Steve took this job while he recuperated. 

Driving home, Steve tries very hard not to imagine what it would be like, having Grace and Lucy under the same roof.


	3. Chapter 3

For what must be the hundredth time in the last 24 hours, Freddie’s eyes pop open, his heart racing and his leg throbbing. The pain in his leg isn’t surprising. He wasn’t supposed to use it so strenuously that soon after getting the cast off.

It’s what Freddie keeps seeing behind his eyelids that counts as the surprise of a lifetime. Freddie keeps telling himself it was just his imagination. Danny doesn’t have a gigantic, striped fish tail instead of legs. Freddie got a good look at those legs yesterday too, after Danny lost his pants underwater. 

He just doesn’t understand why he can’t shake this hallucination, or whatever it was. Why can’t his brain leave it alone?

Frustrated, Freddie reaches for the remote. An old ESPN classics basketball game is almost enough to draw his attention, but he still feels anxious. Restless. 

When Freddie hears Steve’s keys in their apartment door, he’s not sure whether to be relieved for the distraction, or worried that Steve will notice something is wrong. He puts on his best “everything is fine” face and calls out, “Hey, Steve!”

“Hey, man,” Steve says as he enters the main room. He leans down to give Freddie a kiss hello and then flops down into the recliner beside the couch. “How’s your leg?”

“Good,” Freddie lies. He should probably do some of his PT exercises, and then ice it to bring down the swelling. “What were you up to?”

“I went over to Danny’s.” Steve grins in that way he does when he’s expecting praise. Freddie has to concentrate intently to avoid flinching at the sound of Danny’s name. “I asked him to join Five-0 permanently.”

Freddie shakes his head, mostly in surprise. In retrospect, Steve’s _thing_ for Danny combined with his affinity for dating co-workers makes this turn of events not surprising at all. “That’s…”

“Great, right? I mean, he’s been totally _wasted_ at HPD. He’s really good at what he does.”

“Yeah, it’s…” Freddie cannot think of a single sane-sounding reason to keep Danny off the team. "It's great, Steve. He'll be a good addition to the team."

“You know, it’s funny,” Steve says with a chuckle, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. “When I first met Danny, I could have sworn he was that guy that helped us out when we were stranded. You know, the one you and I both hallucinated before the Pinckney picked us up?”

Freddie’s blood runs cold, even as he forces a laugh for Steve’s benefit. “Really?”

Suddenly, the fish tail or whatever Freddie saw doesn’t seem so much like a trick of the eye. The quick underwater rescue yesterday and the impossible-seeming tow toward help six months ago could both have the same explanation. Danny Williams isn’t human.

Holy shit! Danny Williams isn’t human!

“Weird, huh?” Steve says. “Would it be okay to ask him about that before I sign off on his transfer papers? I kind of think it might scare him away or something.”

Caught between wanting Steve to live in blissful ignorance and wanting someone else to figure out that _Danny Williams is not human_ , Freddie shrugs. “I don’t know, darlin’. I don’t know.”

“Yeah, no. You’re right,” Steve says with a bright smile, yet Freddie catches a flash of unease in his eyes. “Better to leave that classified.”

Freddie snorts, because the details of their rescue from being lost at sea are hardly classified, and Steve knows it. Stuck by a sudden urge, he reaches for Steve. “Hey, c’mere. Wanna see if we both fit on this couch?”

“It’s meant for three, sitting,” Steve points out, pedantic as always. Still, he meets Freddie’s hand halfway with his own and lets himself be pulled onto the couch. 

Steve is heavy, but Freddie is used to the weight. “See? We do fit.”

“Mm.” Settling in, Steve presses his face into the side of Freddie’s neck, his arm tightly around Freddie’s chest. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, the doctor has absolutely cleared me for sex.”

Steve’s bark of laughter is loud in Freddie’s ear, but the smile on his face is totally worth it.

Shifting so he’s looking down at Freddie, Steve says, “No. I wanted to ask you if maybe, now that you’re mostly recovered and we’ve settled in a bit, you wanted to start dating people.”

Freddie does not miss the way Steve says “people” rather than “women”. Subtle he is not. Freddie can’t help but ask, “Did you have someone in mind?”

“What? Nah, no,” Steve replies, practically sputtering. “Not really.”

Freddie pretends not to notice Steve’s distress. “Because I think my cane could be a real chick magnet.”

Steve laughs again. “Oh you think so, huh?”

“What, don’t you think it’s sexy?” Freddie asks indignantly, deciding to have a little fun by grabbing Steve’s ass. “I got wounded in battle, you know. Quite heroically.”

Steve goes tense in Freddie’s arms, looking away as he murmurs, “Yeah, I know. I was there.”

Shit. Freddie takes Steve by the chin and makes Steve look at him again. “Don’t do this shit, Steven. Don’t blame yourself. I don’t!”

Steve sets his jaw, but he keeps eye contact. “I was suppos–“

“We went on that mission together. I knew the risks, same as you.” Freddie lets go of Steve’s chin, but keeps a hand on the side of his jaw. “Capturing Anton Hesse was too important an opportunity to pass up. I got my own damn self shot. You’re the one that dragged me home in time.”

As he looks away, Steve’s voice is thick when he says, “You almost didn’t make it.”

“But I did, so suck it up and let’s move on,” Freddie insists, moving so he can catch Steve’s eye again. “Or am I gonna have to kick your ass?”

That doesn’t get a laugh, but it does get a smile. “Like you’d ever beat me.”

Okay. Crisis averted, for the moment anyway. Freddie chuckles and squeezes Steve tightly. 

Now Freddie just has to figure out how to keep Steve from developing a crush on someone that isn’t even human. Sure. That’s fine. No big deal. 

Yeah, right.

~*~

Danny’s just leaving the ammunition locker (which is stocked to a frankly alarming level) when Freddie’s cane blocks the doorway. The cane is followed by the man himself. 

“We need to talk.”

“About that stunt Steve pulled this morning with the pawn shop guy?” Danny asks, not at all comfortable with the way Freddie seems able to fill the entire doorway with just his shoulders. Jesus, was he a linebacker in a former life? “Yes, I agree that a discussion seems in order.”

Freddie’s brows furrow for a moment before his face opens back up and he says, “Oh, the grenade thing? Nah, that was normal.”

“Then what?” With the door blocked, Danny suddenly realizes how small this room really is. Oh, god.

Freddie looks over his shoulder, then drops his voice to a whisper. “I saw you.”

“At the pawn shop?” Danny asks desperately.

“In the water,” Freddie insists, and Danny gets a sinking feeling he knows exactly what this is all about. “We went in after that family, and I saw you.” 

Crossing his arms, Danny says, “Uh-huh. What, exactly, did you see?”

“A tail,” Freddie says, and yep, this is worst case scenario. “You had a tail. A fish tail! That’s how you swam so fast!”

“Maybe I’m just a good swimmer,” Danny replies, visions of being cast out of mer society dancing through his head. 

“Danny.” Freddie keeps one hand on his hip and uses the other to scratch at his eyebrow. It’s a very Steve sort of mannerism. “Just tell me the truth, okay? If we’re going to be partners in this whole Five-0 task force thing, I gotta know I can trust you.”

Okay, that’s not exactly the reaction Danny was expecting. He tries to read the expression on Freddie’s face, but they don’t know each other that well yet. He’s getting a general air of goodwill, though.

Plus, Freddie didn't mention telling anyone, or getting Danny kicked out of Five-0. He just wants the truth. And why shouldn't he? The truth is a great thing, no matter what the elders say. Lies have only ever ripped Danny's life apart. How could the truth be much worse?

Danny sighs as he makes the decision, then says, "I'm a mer. A merperson. So is my daughter, and I swear to god, if you tell _anyone_ , if you do anything to put her in danger…"

"I won't," Freddie insists, reaching forward. He doesn't quite touch Danny, but it's a near thing. "I promise, I won't."

Licking his lips, Danny watches Freddie for a moment. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you, here. This is not exactly easy for me."

"Maybe that's why you should do it," Freddie says with an easy smile, and Danny totally gets why Steve is with him.

"Yeah, thanks for the completely uninformed advice." Danny gestures toward the door, hoping Freddie will let him out of this very, very small room.

Freddie starts to move aside, but then stops. "Can I ask you some questions? I've been going crazy trying to figure out how this all works."

Rolling his eyes, Danny says, "Yes, it's magic. Yes, I can breathe underwater. No, I don't know exactly how it works. Yes, there are others."

"Okay," Freddie says, nodding slowly as he processes the information. "But, like, when you change and you have a tail, where does your dick go?"

"Oh, my god!" Danny cries, pushing past Freddie, feeling like his whole face is on fire.

Freddie follows after Danny. "C'mon. It's a legitimate question!"

"I'm not answering it!" Danny insists, walking a little bit faster.

He's embarrassed, but mostly relieved, because if Freddie is joking about all this – dear lord, please let him be joking – he's probably not planning anything nefarious. 

~*~

"There it is!" Steve says when he sees a flash of white as he rounds the cruise ship docked at Aloha Tower.. He points toward the terrorists’ boat, upping the throttle of his borrowed coast guard speed boat with his other hand. 

“I see it!” Chin calls back at him from the prow, readying his shot gun. 

“He’s right next to the cruise ship,” Freddie says in Steve’s ear, hanging onto the awning bars as they run afoul of a ship’s wake. “How much explosive power do we think Miller has?”

Steve shakes his head. “Enough to seriously maim the cruise ship, maybe even damage the marketplace.”

“How the hell did these terrorists get so close to a loaded-up cruise ship? Where the hell is the coast guard?” Danny asks, bracing himself next to Kono. 

Kono answers before Steve gets a chance. “At first they thought the terrorist ship was a Coast Guard vessel patrolling the piers. By the time we figured out Miller has a damn dirty bomb, it was already past the patrols.”

“We've given the order to evacuate the cruise ship, but it's going to take some time to get those three thousand people out of harm's way,” Steve says. "The only thing now is to get onto that ship and disarm the bomb."

Chin calls back over his shoulder, "What about driving the ship out to the open ocean?"

"If there's enough time left on the timer, sure," Freddie calls up to chin. Quieter, he says to Steve, "What do you want to bet these terrorists don't even leave themselves enough time to get away?"

Taking a moment to think it over, Steve replies, "Depends on whether they've noticed the evacuation or not."

Freddie makes an agreeable noise.

Doing the mental calculations, Steve comes up with a plan. "There's no way to do this quietly, so we're going to hit them fast and hard, people. Do not give them an inch, or that bomb's going off and we're all dead."

Each member of Steve's team acknowledges the plan, none of them backing out. Steve hits the throttle.

As they get close, Steve sees movement on the ship. They've been spotted. "Head's up, people!"

Up front, Chin calls back, "They just threw something over the side!"

"A person?" Danny asks, shifting as far toward Chin as he can without letting go of his handhold. 

Shaking his head, Chin says, "No! Something much smaller. Too small to be the bomb."

"Is it just me," Freddie says, leaning past Steve to look over the side of their vessel, "or does it look like they're surrendering?"

Pulling up beside the terrorist ship, Steve sees that Freddie is right. Three men have their knees on the deck, hands behind their heads. "Keep sharp," Steve insists, noting all the possible ways this could be a trap.

Steve makes entry onto the terrorist boat first, weapon drawn. After a quick visual scan, he asks the terrorist in the middle, "Where's the bomb?"

"In the cabin," he replies with an unconcerned smile. He adds, "Good luck diffusing it. We just threw the failsafe key overboard. In ten minutes, this harbor is going to be a crater."

Ten minutes. Ten minutes isn't enough time to get the vessel far enough away from the island. Keeping his eyes on Freddie, he says over his shoulder, "You win that bet, Fred."

"Can you diffuse it?" Kono asks Steve, and he doesn't know how to tell her that his knowledge in the matter is pretty basic. If these guys used a failsafe key, they've likely built a bomb too complex for him to safely diffuse.

"Chin?" Steve asks with a leading gesture, leaving Danny, Kono, and Freddie guarding the terrorists. He moves back into the cabin, where the bomb is readily visible. It's bigger than Steve would like, and more complex. Sharing a worried look with Chin, Steve asks, "Which side did they throw the key over?"

"You can't be serious," Chin insists, following Steve back out onto the deck. "There's no way we can find those keys in less than ten minutes, even if we had search divers! We have to move the boat."

The terrorist pipes up again. "Threw that key overboard too," he says proudly.

Kono punches him.

"Freddie," Steve says, unclipping his vest and taking it off. "You start working on hot wiring the engine. I'm gonna look for the key."

Freddie gets to work right away, but Chin grabs Steve's arm. "We need to start thinking about evacuating ourselves."

Steve shakes his head. "The harbor's only like 12 meters deep. If I know where the keys went in, I might be able to spot them."

"I'll do it," Danny says, starting to strip off his gear.

"What?" Steve cries. "Danny, no. I'm the trained SEAL here. There's no way you can hold your breath long enough to–"

"He can do it," Freddie calls out from the wheelhouse. "I've seen the way he swims. He can do it."

"See?" Danny says, quickly undoing the buttons of his shirt. "You guys keep working on the engine. Chin? Point me to where you saw the keys go over."

Chin shrugs, but points, and then Danny's out of his pants and diving over the side like he was born to it.

"This is insane," Steve mutters, mostly to Chin. "We're all going to die."

"Let's secure these guys and move them to our boat," Chin says to Kono, nodding toward the terrorists. "We might have to get out of here in a hurry."

"No shit," Kono replies, her eyes wide with concern.

Steve understands the feeling. He hurries over to the wheelhouse, asking Freddie, "How's it coming?"

Freddie's got his head under the dashboard. "This is nothing like hot wiring a humvee," he says, an edge of frustration in his voice. 

"Here, let me take a look," Steve says, crouching down next to Freddie. Now _these_ wires look more familiar than the ones in the bomb below deck. "Here's the power. And that's the starter."

Just as Steve gets the wires cut, he hears Danny's voice from out on deck, "I got 'em!"

Steve's jaw drops. It can't have been two minutes since Danny went in. How in the hell did he find the keys already? He's so surprised that he has to scramble to catch up with Freddie, meeting Danny on deck. Steadfastly ignoring Danny's nakedness, Steve grabs the keys from him and takes them back to the bomb. 

Only one of the keys is the right shape for the keyhole on the bomb's control panel. Looking up at Danny and Freddie behind him, Steve says, "Let's hope this is actually a failsafe, and not an instant ignition."

"Maybe we should move the boat away from the harbor before we try it," Freddie suggests, pointing to the timer. "We've still got three minutes to get a little distance."

"Good thinking," Steve says. He notices Danny there with them. "This is a two-person job, Danno. You should get back on our boat with Chin and Kono."

"Forget it," Danny insists. "Now quit wasting time and get this boat moving!"

Steve would love to argue about the fact that Danny has a daughter. He shouldn't be risking his life like this. Instantly, Steve knows Danny will just undermine his argument by bringing up Lucy, and there really isn't time for this fight. He climbs up to the wheelhouse as fast as he can go. 

As soon as the engine roars to life, Steve turns the boat and heads toward the mouth of the harbor. He can't quite make it out to open ocean, but he can limit the damage that reaches shore. Hopefully that will limit the loss of life as well.

"Thirty seconds!" Freddie calls up from below. 

"Wait until two to turn the key!" Steve orders.

"Wait until two seconds," Danny calls, relaying the message.

As the count in Steve's head reaches the last five seconds, Steve pulls back on the boat's speed. Less turbulence will make it easier to turn the key.

"Got it!" Freddie cries triumphantly. "The timer stopped!"

Steve cuts the engine with a triumphant whoop. He swings down below deck, and it's only after he's wrapped his arms around both Freddie and Danny that he notices Danny's still naked.

"How in the _hell_ did you find those keys?" Steve asks Danny, who also seems to notice he's not wearing any pants.

Letting go of Steve and Freddie, Danny heads to where he left his clothes on the deck, pulling on his boxer shorts before answering. "I don't know. They were the only shiny thing down there."

"But you just dived in! And you were down there for a few minutes." Steve shakes his head, still not quite sure how to line up the pieces of information he knows about Danny. "Have you trained in free-diving?"

Freddie snorts, and Danny gives him an unamused look as he reaches for his pants. Steve finds himself wishing Danny would leave his pants off for just a few more minutes.

"Something like that," Danny says, cryptically.

Frowning at Freddie, Steve asks him, "What do you know about this?"

"Danny's a _great_ swimmer," Freddie insists in a tone that suggests there's more to the story.

"Tell me what's going on!"

“Some other day,” Danny says, and it sounds enough like a promise that Steve is willing to let it go. After all, they do have a dirty bomb to turn over and terrorists to interrogate.

Steve tells Danny, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

~*~

“How come you’re driving the boat?” Steve asks, for what has to be the third time in an hour. “I’m the one who grew up around here. I know all the good diving spots!”

“Would you just trust me?” Danny asks, using his eyes to plead with Freddie for him to please rein in his partner. Freddie gives Danny a cheeky salute with his beer bottle. 

“But we’re out in the middle of nowhere,” Steve insists. “What the hell are we going to see out this far? Swordfish?"

“Can you just be patient for the next five minutes? We’re almost there,” Danny says.

Steve gives Danny a “we’re not done with this conversation” look, but he keeps his mouth shut. Frankly, it’s more than Danny expected of him. In the week since the bomb incident, Steve has asked Danny no less than thirty times how he found that failsafe key. It’s high time he found out. After all, Freddie knows and Danny can see the way he’s struggling to keep Danny’s secret.

Before too long, Danny judges that they’re in the right spot. He cuts the boat’s engine, letting it slowly drift to a stop. “Here we are.”

“Here?” Steve asks with an incredulous scoff. “There’s absolutely nothing here!”

Danny says, “I know. That’s why it’s the perfect place for this.”

“Here, darlin’,” Freddie says, handing one of the gear packs to Steve. 

Steve starts to get ready, but suddenly stops. “You guys, there’s only two sets of gear. I thought you were going to swim, Danny? Show me how you got those keys?”

"Oh, I'm going to swim," Danny says, pulling off his t-shirt and grabbing a wetsuit vest out of the pile. He puts it on, zipping it up, and kicks off his boat shoes. He pulls his phone and wallet out of his boardies, stowing them in the boat's dash, and then holds up a finger. "Rule number one, don't freak out."

Frowning, Steve watches Danny walk to the aft of the boat. "Freak out about what?"

Danny dives into the water like it's as natural to him as breathing. When he comes back up, he throws his board shorts over the side of the boat. "Rule number two, you can't tell anyone about what you're about to see. Top secret classified. Got it?"

Since Freddie seems to know what's going on, Steve looks over at him. Freddie's got his wetsuit half on when Steve catches his eye. "You can keep a secret, can't you, darlin'?"

"Can I–? I can keep a secret!" Steve insists, reaching for the edge of the boat and looking over the side at Danny. "What is it?"

"Remember, don't freak out," Danny says, and then he lays back, floating at the surface of the water.

It takes Steve a few seconds to understand what he's seeing. Instead of legs – the legs Steve _just_ saw before Danny went into the water – Danny has a long, finned tail. The underside is kind of a pale grayish green, but visible on the sides are the ends of darker, blueish stripes that must go around the back of the tail. 

"You have a tail," Steve says dumbly. "A _fish_ tail."

"I do," Danny says, rolling and diving under the water before coming up at the side of the boat. He looks up at Steve, pushing his hair back away from his face. There's this pleading look in the tilt of his eyes, in the furrow of his brow. "So? What do you think?"

"There's– there's a word, right?" Steve asks, looking to Freddie for help. "For what you are? Why can't I think of the word?"

"Mermaid?" Freddie suggests, leaning on the rail of the boat next to Steve. 

"Mer _person_ , thank you," Danny corrects him, using his tail to flick a few droplets of water up over his head and into Freddie's face.

Steve asks the only question he can think of. "How?"

Danny shrugs. "Always been like this. Kinda runs in my family." He gives a cheeky grin that makes Steve laugh.

"Can I touch it?" Steve asks, only realizing when Freddie socks him in the shoulder how that must have sounded. "Your tail, I mean. Just so I can understand."

"If you promise to buy me a drink afterward." Danny smiles, squinting one eye in the bright Pacific sun, and it occurs to Steve that Danny's flirting with him. 

“I can do that.”

Danny’s smile widens. Steve thinks it odd that Danny’s face – hell, along with the entire the top half of his body – hasn’t changed at all, despite the bottom half changing to such an extreme. Moving toward the back of the boat, Danny says, “Get your gear on, then. The water’s fine!”

Freddie, all decked out in his scuba gear; gives Steve a thumbs up and falls backward into the water. The ocean catches Freddie easily, and then he goes under. 

Danny dives after him, tail fin breaking the water as he turns.

Steve doesn't think he's ever been this excited and unnerved by the surface of the ocean. He finds himself intensely curious about how the hell Danny swims. Is it like a dolphin, or more like a shark? Or is it like something else altogether?

It's the unnerved part of the equation that has Steve's hands slipping as he pulls on his wetsuit. Eventually, a the surface of the water breaks and Freddie pulls himself half up onto the boat. He takes his regulator mouthpiece out and pushes up his goggles.

"You okay, Steve?"

Steve tries to give his partner a smile, but he's afraid it doesn't quite look right. "It's just a lot. Danny's…"

When Steve can't quite finish that thought, Freddie replies, "Yeah, I know. But you should come see him swim. It's incredible."

"Yeah?" Steve has to admit the curiosity has just about won him over.

"Steve." The serious tone in Freddie's voice makes Steve look at him.

"What is it?"

Keeping eye contact, Freddie tells Steve, "Danny's taking a big risk showing us this. It's something he's not supposed to do. Think you can respect that risk and be cool?"

With a loud scoff, Steve replies, "Cool? You think I can't be cool?" He finishes putting on his wetsuit in quick, efficient movements. "I am the _coolest_!"

Freddie laughs, splashing water at Steve.

A moment later, Danny surfaces. "Almost ready?"

Steve grabs his tank and starts checking it over. "Yeah, almost."

"The big, bad Navy SEAL isn't afraid to get into the water, is he?" Danny asks, a teasing smile on his face.

"Never," Steve insists. It crosses his mind that Danny and Freddie are working in tandem far better than Steve is comfortable with. If a relationship is on the horizon, Steve knows he's not going to have much, if any, control over it.

Well, what the hell. He's about to get in the ocean with a certified mythical creature. What's taking a little relationship risk after that?

Steve does some deep breathing to calm his autonomic nervous system as he finishes his preparations. Then, he's got canned air in his lungs and ocean water all around him. 

Swimming is good. It's familiar, even with the scuba gear.

Danny's new form is the farthest thing from familiar Steve has ever seen.

He approaches Danny slowly under the water, observing how he holds himself steady in the shifting water with small corrective gestures in his hands and tail. Danny lets Steve approach him, and as Steve gets closer, he sees slits in the skin along Danny's ribs. They gape open periodically, and Steve realizes they must be gills. 

Fascinated, Steve reaches toward them without thinking. He barely stops himself last second, looking up at Danny's face with what he hopes translates as an apologetic expression. Danny rolls his eyes and then reaches for Steve's hand, putting it on his hip-turned-fluke.

Based on the fish-like coloring of Danny's tail, Steve expected it to feel cold and scaly. Instead, the skin on Danny's tail is smooth and warm. Steve has never sought out the opportunity to touch a dolphin or a whale, but he imagines this is what they must feel like.

_Warm blooded_

Steve notices Freddie at the edge of his field of view, so he turns. From a few arm lengths away, Freddie points at the base of Danny's torso before giving an exaggerated shrug.

Danny starts moving his hands, and Steve is surprised to recognize some ASL, particularly several curse words. Danny ends his rant with a middle finger in Freddie's direction.

Freddie smiles around his mouthpiece and gives Danny a thumbs up.

Curious what that was about, Steve waves at Danny, and then says in very rusty, half-remembered signs, _What was that?_

Danny lights up at Steve's use of ASL, and starts signing much too quickly for Steve to keep up with.

_Slower! Please!_ , Steve signs back.

Pointing to Freddie first, Danny then makes two signs that Steve recognizes: "stupid" and "question."

This time it's Steve grinning around his mouthpiece as he pulls Freddie close enough to give him half a hug. Of course he'd ask a stupid question. God, Steve loves him. 

If this is it. If he and Freddie have finally found someone to complete their triad permanently, at least life will never be boring!

That's when Steve notices the wicked grin on Danny's face. _How fast are you?_ he asks.

Before Steve can cobble together a response, Danny darts away, leaving Steve and Freddie to chase him. His artificial flippers are some help, but even swimming as fast as he can, Steve is no match for Danny's speed in the water.

It's a good thing Danny lets them catch him a few minutes later. Exhilarated, Steve holds both Danny and Freddie as close as he can with the scuba equipment in the way. This is a chase he would happily swim again, and again, and again.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't forget to visit Narya's [art masterpost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12335271) so you can leave kudos and comments.
> 
> You can also find me [on tumblr](https://pterawaters.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you liked this fic, you should definitely check out JoeLawson's Mer!Danny and Shark!Danny fics, [Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/230572) and [Jaws](https://archiveofourown.org/works/165169). They are both excellent McDanno fics and I drew a lot of inspiration from them when writing this work.


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